Lieutenant Dan took on Hurricane Milton in a boat in the bay and won --[Reported by Umva mag]

A one-legged ‘Florida man’ who became an overnight TikTok sensation for braving the full force of Hurricane Milton in a tiny sailboat has emerged unscathed.

Joseph Malinowski lives on a 20-foot yacht docked in Tampa Bay and refused multiple offers to be moved to a shelter, instead opting to stay put.

His exploits earned him the name ‘Lieutenant Dan’ named after Gary Sinise’s paraplegic character from the film Forrest Gump who also refused to leave his boat during a massive storm.

In a now-viral social media clip, Mr Malinowski told Sky News: ‘Plan is to sit down and hunker down.

‘I’m gonna be fine. This is a boat. It’s meant to be on water.

‘The water’s going to surge, it’s not a tsunami.”

He claimed to have slept through Hurricane Helene, and that he would be able to do so again.

‘I have no concerns, God’s got me. I’m gonna hunker down and do my TikTok.’

Both the police and even Tampa mayor Jane Castor made multiple attempts to move Mr Malinowski from his boat ahead of Hurricane Milton, which has wreaked havoc throughout large parts of Florida.

But he steadfastly refused to evacuate, saying he would only leave if his boat started to break apart.

Many thought he was signing his death warrant with the move, but in a miraculous turn of events, it appears Lt Dan has weathered the storm.

‘I’m still on my boat. I’m still afloat, and the rain’s coming down kind of hard, but that’s about it,’ he told NBC News in a call on Wednesday.

‘I don’t know, I don’t understand why everybody’s concerned. I’ve been doing this for years, and nobody was ever concerned about the previous times.’

He was later spotted sticking his head out of the window of his boat at around 11pm on Wednesday night, telling a reporter he was ‘fine’.

Detailing his experience in a TiKTok video, Mr Malinowski said: ‘I’m not taking on any water, I haven’t even spilled my coffee yet.

‘I’m good, I’ve got everything I need, I’ve got plenty of water, I’ve got plenty of food. I could be in here for two weeks.

‘I’ve got everything I need – coffee, creamer, everything.’

He later told Sky News after the storm passed on Thursday: ‘I made it through unscathed. It was pretty good.’

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